Olivia Nuzzi, the once-celebrated political reporter, has dropped a bombshell book that’s shaking up the conservative and progressive circles alike with claims of a scandalous affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as NewsNation reports.
In her explosive tell-all, American Canto, Nuzzi lays bare an alleged romantic entanglement with Kennedy, now the secretary of Health and Human Services, detailing personal exchanges, career fallout, and shocking revelations about his personal life and political maneuvers.
Let’s rewind to the beginning: Nuzzi, formerly with New York Magazine, first crossed paths with Kennedy while profiling him as a presidential hopeful in 2023.
Rumors of a digital romance soon swirled, leading to her firing from the magazine last year -- a professional implosion she attributes to this very relationship.
The book paints a picture of intimate connection, with Nuzzi claiming Kennedy professed his love repeatedly and even expressed a desire to start a family with her, despite both being in committed relationships elsewhere.
“I need everything from you, Livvy,” Kennedy allegedly told her, a line Nuzzi describes as both sweet and earnest. But let’s be real. Such declarations, while flattering, cross ethical lines when one’s married and the other’s engaged, not to mention the reporter-subject conflict that screams bad judgment.
Beyond personal indiscretions, Nuzzi admits to offering Kennedy strategic advice during his failed presidential run, including how to handle a bizarre 2014 incident involving a dead bear cub left in Central Park, which sparked an investigation.
She urged him to get ahead of the story, and he reportedly took her counsel -- a move that raises eyebrows about the blurred lines between journalism and political consulting.
Further, Nuzzi recounts discussions on whether Kennedy should ditch his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, or endorse a major political figure to secure influence, showing just how deep she waded into his campaign’s inner workings.
Then there’s the darker side: Nuzzi alleges Kennedy, despite years of sobriety, indulged in the hallucinogenic drug DMT behind his wife Cheryl Hines’ back, describing it as a “classic psychedelic experience.”
She also claims another substance sometimes hindered his ability to campaign, though Kennedy denied it when confronted. It's a denial that conservative values of personal accountability might find a bit too convenient.
Adding fuel to the fire, Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, Ryan Lizza, wrote in a Substack post that Kennedy’s aides suspected a relapse, with Kennedy allegedly confessing to Nuzzi about using ketamine. If true, this paints a troubling picture of a public servant wrestling with personal demons while holding high office.
When the affair hit the public eye, Nuzzi writes of feeling utterly betrayed by Kennedy, a man she trusted implicitly, only to receive an apology secondhand through a phone call intermediary.
“When he saw me there, a mob on the horizon moving closer, he reached out to me, not to lift me to my feet but to pin me down,” Nuzzi laments, capturing a raw sense of abandonment.
For those of us who value loyalty, this alleged betrayal stings as a reminder that personal failings can eclipse even the most idealistic political rhetoric.
